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Allo. I'm brand spanking new to this whole thing, so please excuse any mistakes in ettiquite or protocol or any unwritten forum rules, they are entirely innocent.

I live in a small house with a largeish pasture out back where horses grazed untill just recently. I love eating shrooms, so I figured this was a good place to look for some. Unfortunatly, my only experiance with mushrooms is eating them en masse, not identifying them. I found hordes of what seem to be Liberty Caps Psilocibe semilanceata , but I'm not sure enough to eat them. They match the picture found in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, but with a few small differances.

I'll describe it to the best of my novice ability:

Growing in clumps around fields, conical cap with darker brown stripes running down. Gills are attached(adnexed) light grayish and distant. The stalk is almost white under the cap, darkening to black at the root. The caps range in size from 1\2 to 3 cm on diameter. they flair out slighty on the bottom edge and turn whittish. The spore print was brownish blue. As far as bruising goes, I cant tell, is there a good way to bruise them? Ive flicked them and tore them and I still cant tell. These things are all over my yard, I cant walk without stepping on them, so if they ARE phcadellic, I'll be quite happy. If anyone here lives around Anacortes, Wa, please, come over and ident them, you can pick as many as you want!

I live up in bellingham and I'd love to come down and check your mushrooms. However, there's something else you can do to ID them yourself. Pick a mushroom, remove the stem leaving the cap intact (hold cap and pull stem straight down). Then gently break the cap in half: If there's a membrane that looks like a contact lens trying to hold the mushroom together, then it very likely is a liberty cap. PM me if you think you really have libs and I'll see if I can make it down this weekend.

Good luck!

--------------------"You can't trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing you can do about it, so let's have a drink (or mushroom)"

No, there is'nt a membrane on the inside, and its not bruising blue. Damn, my hopes were wayyyy up, Im sitting on a field of these things and they're no good. Theres a bunch of other species around though, who knows?

Does anyone out there want an apprentice? Like an assistant hunter? Im really interested in learning more about mushrooms, especially identification and growing. Anacortes is on Fidalgo island off Hwy 20 on I-5, north of Everett south of Bellingham. Right now, I'm unemployed, so I can go anytime!

The membrane is actually on the outside (top) of the cap, not the inside. If you have the money to drive down to the astoria area of oregon, just advertise that you can give someone a ride if they'll show you around. It's well worth it.

--------------------"You can't trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there's nothing you can do about it, so let's have a drink (or mushroom)"